New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit tonight met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed with him the prevailing situation in the city arising out of widespread protests in the wake of the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16.

Ms Dikshit apprised the Prime Minister about the steps being taken by her Government to ensure a safe environment for women in the national Capital.

The Chief Minister also conveyed her views on steps needed to be taken by various agencies to instill confidence of women in the security system, sources said.

She also sought the Prime Minister's intervention in directing the agencies concerned so that the city can be made a safer place for women, they said.

Ms Dikshit is also understood to have conveyed to the Prime Minister the need to enhance punishment for those found guilty in committing heinous crime against women as well as a fast track trial of the convict.

Delhi Government has already announced a number of steps including setting up of a control room at Chief Minister's office to receive complaints of women and take follow up action with help of police.

At a meeting with Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde yesterday, Ms Dikshit had demanded accountability of senior police officers in the gang-rape incident and sought immediate setting up of fast-track courts to try rape cases with provisions in the law even for death penalty in rare cases like the one that rocked the city.

She had also called for a "serious look" at VIP security deployment in the Capital, saying it cannot be an "excuse" for not providing security to the common man.